A PAIR of dealers who originally denied intending to supply heroin and crack cocaine in Runcorn changed their pleas to guilty after being incriminated by mobile phone records.

Lee Devereux, 21, of Toxteth, and 37-year-old Paul Done, of Mersey Road, Widnes, were stopped in a white Ford Fiesta van in Castle Rise on October 15, 2002, by under-cover officers from the Halton Dedicated Drugs Team.

Officers had observed the pair pulling up next to a car containing two known drug users and stopped the van, driven by Done, discovering nine packets of heroin and crack cocaine in the vehicle.

Also found in the van's glove box was a mobile phone, another packet of heroin hidden in a Kinder egg and slips of paper with the name 'Kev' and a telephone number.

The pair claimed they were in Runcorn to drum up legitimate business, but the mobile, while in police hands, rang repeatedly from users asking for drugs.

Analysis of the calls revealed they were coming from eight public telephone kiosks in Runcorn.

Done, a drug user, was judged to have become involved in the small-scale operation in order to obtain drugs, but Devereux, who is not a user, was thought to have started dealing purely to make money.

Devereux received a 45-month custodial sentence, while Done received three years.

PC Mark Woolam, of the Halton Dedicated Drugs Team, said: 'At the time of his arrest Devereux was attempting to establish himself as a main Runcorn dealer, so it was pleasing to catch him before he caused sizeable harm.

'While the demand for hard drugs remains, people like this always risk their liberty to make money.